Well Saki,
You’ve got a real dilemma there. On the one hand, you have found a community that you enjoy being part of in the Jehovah’s Witnesses. You state that you find 90% of what they teach to be acceptable, and yet you have doubts or disagreements about the other 10%. You state that you have difficulties socially, and that those difficulties are resolved to an extent by association with this group. If it works for you, if you can live with your 90%/10% ratio, then maybe you should go for it. At least you are going in with your eyes open.
I don’t think it is the purpose of this site to belittle people for beliefs that they hold to honestly. I do think it is the purpose of this site to stop people from feeling guilty for not believing something. I don’t like the attempt at persuasion that goes “but why would you leave Jehovah?”, because I don’t think it is a valid argument. I think it is manipulative. I don’t think it is effective. If you make someone feel guilty for not believing something, that doesn’t make them believe it. At best, it creates a state of incongruence that I feel is more likely to drive someone away from God completely than it is to draw them close to Him.
I have to take issue with your statement that within 2 weeks, you could present information here that you know to be false, and expect those of us who read it to blindly accept it as truth. I don’t think that gives credit to the capacity we have developed for critical thinking. As evidence of that, if your supposition were true, we would most likely be at home underlining Watchtower magazines, not reading and posting on this board.
Think about why you are here. I don’t want to hurt your faith if you truly believe that being one of Jehovah’s Witnesses is the best thing for you. But I want you to respect that I don’t believe it is for me. It is not that I don’t think I can live up to the high standards, or that I am too lazy to work for the organization. I simply, and honestly, don’t believe what they say.
grey matters
JoinedPosts by grey matters
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35
Moving on...
by Zico ini've been reading this board regularly since it was introduced to me in march of this year.
at first, i was finding it pretty difficult coming to terms with the fact that my whole life had been a lie, but really, i suppose there's not much point in worrying about this now, what's done is done, and i'm still easily young enough to make a life in 'the world' despite a slow start.
the problem is that i have no idea how to go about.
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grey matters
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35
Moving on...
by Zico ini've been reading this board regularly since it was introduced to me in march of this year.
at first, i was finding it pretty difficult coming to terms with the fact that my whole life had been a lie, but really, i suppose there's not much point in worrying about this now, what's done is done, and i'm still easily young enough to make a life in 'the world' despite a slow start.
the problem is that i have no idea how to go about.
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grey matters
so saki2fifty, where do you think you will go from here? Are you going to work towards baptism?
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44
How many here have left the org because of this board?
by mrsjones5 ini ask this question because saki said this in another topic:and i would assume that a lot of people on this board left due to this board alone "proving" the lies of the wts.
so, it this true or false?
or is this mostly true or mostly false?
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grey matters
I faded for a long time, but I quit attending meetings completely around the end of 2002. Family pressure to return led me to do Internet research. I was led here by Timothy Campbell's sight.
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grey matters
CHL,
Thanks for posting that. I'm glad I missed it.
I love the goober in the audience that shouts "AYE!" as loud as he can when the "resolution" is "passed". Reminds me of a lot of people that were determined to advance no matter what it took, so they too could be considered one of the "glorious ones". People like that were what sowed in me the first seeds of doubt.
Oh well, at least we can have great cause for rejoicing "knowing that Jehovah through his son, Jesus Christ, will fulfill ALL of our scriptural expectations. Yes, they will ALL come true...." I guess that means that "We can confidently expect that 1925 will mark the return of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the faithful prophets of old."
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34
Ever wonder if an old friend turned apostate?
by beautifulisfree ini often wonder if my old witness friends from my past are still in the 'truth' (god i hope not)?
i know this site is pretty popular amongst ex-witnesses.
and since most of us have 'fake names'...we could be talking to someone that we already know.
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grey matters
Well, for those that are DF'd or DA'd, that would work. As a fader, I don't think it would be a good idea for me. I have to consider my wife's feelings there. She is inactive, but wants to be sensitive to her family. They are nice people who were never as hardcore as my family. I couldn't care less personally, I'd love to slam the door shut on the org. But her fingers are still in it.
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35
Moving on...
by Zico ini've been reading this board regularly since it was introduced to me in march of this year.
at first, i was finding it pretty difficult coming to terms with the fact that my whole life had been a lie, but really, i suppose there's not much point in worrying about this now, what's done is done, and i'm still easily young enough to make a life in 'the world' despite a slow start.
the problem is that i have no idea how to go about.
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grey matters
The reason I ask is that I worked for my Dad when I decided to fade. I didn't live with my parents. But still, there was no degree of separation there. We worked with eachother all day and went to the same cong. I ended up quitting, moving, and taking a job somewhere else. He wasn't happy about it, but it was a way to take it "one step at a time".
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35
Moving on...
by Zico ini've been reading this board regularly since it was introduced to me in march of this year.
at first, i was finding it pretty difficult coming to terms with the fact that my whole life had been a lie, but really, i suppose there's not much point in worrying about this now, what's done is done, and i'm still easily young enough to make a life in 'the world' despite a slow start.
the problem is that i have no idea how to go about.
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grey matters
Do you still work for your uncle?
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What Are Unwritten Rules & Understandings That "Good" JWs Will Adhere To?
by minimus injt, made a very good point in a different thread regarding how witnesses follow unwritten rules and understandings.
for example, a witness may shun you----even though you're not disfellowshipped or disassociated.
because they know you're leading an immoral life or that you smoke.
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grey matters
Find a way to get out of jury duty.
I guess that's a conscience matter, but in the conservative congregation that I grew up in "conscience matter" was newspeak for "we won't disfellowship you for this, but you will go nowhere in the org if you do it".
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Local JW elder can't be bothered to fill in the blanks
by Jankyn ini go through the press releases for a local media outlet.
in this morning's batch was a "post-convention release" from a local jw re the "deliverance at hand" convention at the cow palace in sf last weekend.. .
it's a template from the wts, but this bozo didn't fill in the right blanks!
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grey matters
ROTFLMAO! That's hilareous! Thanks. Made my day.
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Why does the trinity matter... or not?
by drew sagan inhere's what i'm putting out there.
every jw has a list of teachings that they know 'prove' they are the only true religion.
while they turn to many things in order to prove their points, i have noticed a special tendancy to turn to just a few things in the end.
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grey matters
Dreamer Dreaming, right on.
The thing is, my dad really enjoys arguing about this. Growing up, if someone encountered a Trinitarian in service that wanted to argue the point, and couldn't successfully, he would be the one to go back and do it. He took me along on several of those calls, to "show me how to do it", right down to the Elohiem and all of that. The feeling that I came away from those discussions with was that you could argue it either way. I just don't see how it affects my life. So I don't think it matters.